Restoration Experience
Cyberlight
Turbo & SV
The Cyber Desire
In Athens where I live, there was only one venue/Theatre which had 24 Cyberlights operating for approximately 10 years! I haven't witness them in person unfortunately but I was always tuning my TV for our music shows back then, from that venue. Also Cyberlights appeared on some video clips from the artist who appeared on Rex theater, as well as in his CD booklet. Back then the competition was not only about music sales, but stage appearance and lighting gear. Their control was not so 'advanced' though. Rex theater used the CX version.
Apart from that venue, I couldn't find Cyberlights in Greece anywhere else, like a PA company for example, in order to get them easily and relatively cheap. But I always wanted them and I never stopped searching.
Getting them from France
I've discovered online some Cyberlights being sold in France and as now I am working in a company which exports and imports equipment, I had an advantage of affordable transport costs for such heavy equipment. So, I got 7 Cyberlights in total, in two imports! From the 7, I made 5 of them working in 100%, while I kept the rest 2 for spares. Many parts were missing also from the last two, so I couldn't complete them.
Their electronics needed only some easy repairs and happily I found every electronic component I needed (thanks to Internet for that!). They were generally, only dusty but their internal was impressively clean. No smell of nicotine, so they were not used in clubs. I couldn't guess the environment of their operation. Probably on PA companies for mobile Stage setups.
Athens - Greece: 24x Cyberlight CX at Rex Music Theatre on 1996
Restoration
The restoration process was typical for such cases and included the stages of disassembly, wash/clean and repaint most of the parts and the downgrade to MSR 575 lamp for lower consumption and 'normal' luminosity for private use.
In general, disassembling Cyberlight is a fast process if you wish to perform a deep clean of everything. I had rough time with the screws that fix the CMY and shutter flags on the motor axes, as I couldn't found any compatible Allen key, or Star key to get them off. Also, finding the screws with the same thread and different head was impossible. Probably in US were sizes of such parts which are not available in European countries. Considering the fact that these screws are too small, I couldn't use any other tool to unscrew them. I had to damage some of them.
All the motors were original and in a perfect condition. That was quite impressive for a light of that age. Apart from one of the 7 Cyberlights, there were no thermal fatigue in the cables or other parts near the lamp compartment.
Electronics Repair
Thankfully the board schematics are available online, this was a major help, especially for an amateur in electronics, like me. Still, the design logic is simple to understand and a lesson for me. It gave me more experience and understanding about electronics.
For once more, the parts looked original on the power supply boards, apart from the 5V voltage regulators, but I decided to replace them with new, just to be sure that no fails would occur after such long time of not being used. I have also replaced the thyristors and diodes of the 24 Volt power supply.
The logic boards were intact and I faced a problem with one of the 5 only. The problem was that some motors didn't rotate properly, but making steps back and forth as the command was given. With the help of the schematics I found easily the failing IC. I have installed a base so I wouldn't cause any more thermal fatigue on the board, in future fails of the same electronic component.
Lamp downgrade, cooling & Control
Even though I have kept two 1200 scanners original, for those I want to use very often in my house, I need to downgrade their light source. It would be impossible to use them with their 1200 Watt lamp, since the costs and temperatures would be very high, no matter how long I use them.
Downgrading the Cyberlights was too easy, as there is an MSR (Phillips) & HTI (Osram) 575 lamps, with G22 lamp holders. The only thing that I needed to do was to replace the ballast of course and raise the lamp holder a little bit higher from its base, in order to focus properly the lamp's arc tube in the reflector.
The power factor capacitors of all the Cyberlights but one, were not functioning at all, this was the reason that one fixture had thermally damaged cables and PSB board buses. I have replaced the one big 145 μF capacitor, with two smaller 450V, 35μF for power factor correction, which they are enough for the downgraded lamp. Both of the capacitors were easily fitted inside the fixture.
Since I got both models, Turbo and SV, I decided to fit inside the fixture the 575 ballasts only in the Turbo versions, where the cooling is forced. The radial fans of the Turbos are producing insane airflow inside the fixture and the 575 lamp doesn't create excessive temperatures. So, in those cases, the ballasts will be efficiently cooled. The 575 ballasts fitted in the same place as the original ballast were, blocking a little bit the opening below the lamp, but leaving enough space behind, on the sides and under the lamp for the air to flow. The Turbo version fans blow air on the back of the lamp and in front, inside the reflector.
On the SV versions, the air is sucked from the fixture via axial fans. In that case, I decided not to fit the ballast inside and block part of the air's path, which I would afraid would cause an inefficient cooling of the lamp. So i have installed an external ballast, connected with an extended cable. To be honest, while observing the temperatures, I am still thinking of putting the ballast inside of the SV versions too and install also an extra radial fan for precaution.
I have two fans of the SV versions that I am trying to fix. There is a component i found only online in Aliexpress shop, but still hasn't arrived. In the meantime, I have made another patend for the SV version, installing 3x 60x60x15 mm fans from Sunon, which they are doing the job. The airflow is equivalent to the original centrifugal fan. Those fans are very expensive, so getting a new was out of my options.
The Cyberlight's PSU board, provides the low voltages for the logic boards, as well as fan and lamp control. In comparison with all the other old fixtures I've worked with, I found it very advance for the time it has been produced. Logic board activates the lamp and power factor capacitor, when DMX signal is received. The ballast output goes through a current transformer before it connects to the starter. That current transformer is not only used as a lamp working/not working indicator but also as a protective device if the power factor capacitor fails. If the PFC fails, the current will increase and then the lamp will go off automatically. That not only saved money from the excessive power consumption, but also protected the fixtures cabling and PSU board from the excessive Amperage drawn.
When I competed the first downgraded Cyberlight, I realized that I couldn't use the electronic lamp control system from the PSU board. I knew of course that the lamp current would be the half from the original lamp, but I didn't thought that there would be such accuracy. The lamp was turning off after few moments, since there was not enough current to indicate that the lamp run properly. After completing all the Cyberlights ( I was too hurry to work with them, as I have never seen them live ), I decided to experiment a little. Until then, I bypassed the lamp control system and I didn't liked that. I wanted to use the fixtures full potentials.
So I did something so simple, I wonder why I haven't thought of that before. I have replaced the one 2.5mm cable with a 1.5 mm one, passing it two times through the current transformer. With that way the electromagnetic field is stronger now and the board senses the proper current flow through the lamp's circuit. All the boards also have a thermal protection component, connected on the lamp command line. Some of the Cybers I got, didn't have a mechanical thermostat and I wondered why, until i found that part on the boards. Fixture OFF command can be sent via DMX. In that case, the lamp is being shut off, the fixture fans are operating for few seconds and then the fixture goes to full sleep mode. I like a lot that smart function. The fixture also can tell you when it's time to change the PFC.
Since I did that modification, one of my fixtures were already protected, due to a starter fail and over current. When the problem occurred, the voltage to the lamp circuit has been cut off.
If you need more information, or you have a Cyberlight which you wish to repair, maybe the experience I have with mine will be able to help you fix yours!
